All your favorite incompetent cops are back for Reno 911! Miami, which hit theaters last Friday. The Reno PD is invited to a conference in Miami when a terrorist attack leaves the city’s entire police force trapped in the convention center. The only cops left to lay down the law just so happen to be the gang from Reno. Just what would happen if eight slackers from Reno were trusted with patrolling the streets of Miami? They would abuse their power, ditch work to take in some sun, encounter crazy characters, and perhaps even uncover a giant drug conspiracy. That’s just what happens in Reno 911! Miami.
While the film had more than a few great lines, setting it in Miami instead of the colorful Reno ended up taking away from the comedy for me. A ton of my favorite comedic actors had cameos in the film, but seeing them as other characters made me long for the classic ones they played on the tv series. How could Patton Oswalt not be the D&D kid who hits his friend with a magic missile and then tries to flee the cops with his “boots of escaping”?! How could Toby Huss not be Big Mike, sitting in his front yard and yelling at Brenda as the cops drag him off?! Thank goodness they didn’t mess with perfection and kept Nick Swardson as Terry, the roller-skating hustler. I really liked the movie and I thought there were a lot of funny moments, but every time I spotted one of these actors in a cameo, it ended up making me long for the tv show and took me out of the movie for a moment.
Setting the film in Miami is one of those typical moves for tv shows that become films. There is always a desire to put the characters in a new situation or to mix things up so it holds your attention for 90 minutes. Mike Judge did it in Beavis and Butt-Head Do America and, to some extent, Trey Parker and Matt Stone did it in South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. The problem is that changing a great formula isn’t always the best move.
A lot of tv-to-movie filmmakers say that they don’t want the film to become “just a two hour episode”, but in many ways, a two hour episode is exactly what would work best. With Beavis and Butt-Head or South Park, both the shows and the films had a solid plot line and structure from the get go. With Reno, the tv series was modeled after Cops and didn’t have such a clear plot. This means that giving the movie a three act structure actually takes away from what makes the show so great. Just like in Cops, the tv series was primarily about the Reno police encountering weird characters (like Terry or Big Mike) as they failed to do their jobs. The episodes were hilarious because of their authenticity. It actually felt like a real reality show, especially during the first season. Taking that randomness and trying to fit it into a movie mold is nearly impossible to do.
Just like with Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, I was a super fan before ever setting foot in the theater. This means I had higher expectations than the average viewer. Though other critics would disagree with me, Tenacious D met and exceeded almost all my expectations. Unfortunately for Reno it was definitely funny, but just not as awesomely funny as I had hoped it would be. It’s definitely worth checking out and I’m anxious to see what some you think about it.